


Just Like This

by Arichuloco



Series: How to Grow Butterflies in Your Belly [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Ambiguous Relationship, Comfort No Hurt, Cute, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Link being dumb but, Playful teasing, Post BotW, Post-Canon, Revelations, Romance, Short haired Zelda, are they together? who knows?, link loves zelda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23369398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arichuloco/pseuds/Arichuloco
Summary: Link realizes while holding Zelda and lying on the grass that he never wants to travel alone anymore.He wants to stay like this forever.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: How to Grow Butterflies in Your Belly [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857070
Comments: 15
Kudos: 169





	Just Like This

Zelda’s hair smelled nice.

Link sighed as Zelda shuffled on top of him, her leg nudging his as she cuddled closer. Her weight on his side was comfortable. Warm. Zelda let out a sound of satisfaction, and Link knew that she was smiling into his tunic.

The sky was impossibly blue from where they rested on the hilltop somewhere in Necluda. Clouds passed above them at a leisurely pace, occasionally casting shadows over them, only to watch as it moved somewhere else on the plains. 

It was calm. So, so calm.

Link could recall how two years ago he was climbing this same hill, but with a sense of urgency that never left him at any moment whether he was awake or asleep. 

And he was alone. 

That was something that ate at him in his darkest moments on his journey across Hyrule before he saved Zelda: how hard it was to do everything alone. He was haunted by the memories that he could remember with no one to understand him, and the ones that he did recall only reminded him of what he lost and what he failed to do. 

But every month there would be the Blood Moon, where Link would hear Zelda’s voice weary and afraid. For him. Someone who knew him better than he did who genuinely cared for him. He could hear her fear and remorse once every month, and Link wanted nothing more but to be with her. To tell her face to face that she didn’t have to worry, that it was okay because he was strong enough to fight off every monster that the Calamity brought back to defeat him. Link wanted desperately to have a returning connection to the girl that spoke to him. Just so that he wouldn’t be alone anymore.

And now he wasn’t.

Zelda was absently playing with the chainmail peeking out of his sleeve that Link wore underneath his tunic. Her fingers delicately pinched the chain, probably looking for flaws in her replication. But her eyes were still closed, peacefully living in the moment that the two of them shared.

Link never wanted to travel alone ever again.

Link wanted to wake up every morning with Zelda resting close to him. Or beside him. He wasn’t picky. He wanted to make breakfast for Zelda while she awoke with bleary eyes and asked him what he was making. He wanted to argue with her about what ridiculous activity she wanted to do in the name of science. He wanted to tease her by the lake by tossing her into the water, and he wanted her to get mad at him and pull him in after her. He wanted Zelda to talk endlessly until she forgot that he couldn’t understand the words she was saying anymore.

Link wanted a thousand days and more just holding Zelda under the sun, feeling the warmth of home. He didn’t even want to think about travelling alone anymore. Every time his dreams replayed his lonely journey, Link would feel a pang of panic and emptiness. Briefly, he would wonder why he felt like he was missing something, and once he realized what it was —  _ Zelda  _ — Link would be filled with a desperation to escape, to wake up from his nightmare.

No, he didn’t want anything to change.

A sudden gust of wind washed over them, mixing through his and Zelda’s hair. Chilliness crawled up from his legs to his arms, and then up to his neck. A few strands from Zelda’s head tickled his face, building up an urge to reach up and alleviate his itch. It was a little annoying, but he was so comfortable with his arms resting around Zelda’s waist that Link only wrinkled his nose and toughed through it.

Zelda shivered lightly and wrapped her arms tighter around him. Link did the same, hoping that maybe he could fight the cold away from her too. She hummed and nuzzled closer to his chest. The movement only pushed more of Zelda’s hair up against his nose. That was okay. Link could ignore that.

Zelda pressed her head more firmly against him, and that was when Link realized something. His cheeks flushed slightly, and he felt embarrassment knowing that Zelda probably sensed the change in his mood. How could she not? 

“Are you listening to my heartbeat?”

Zelda tilted her head up, to Link’s relief. His face was still itching, but not as much now. Zelda smiled coyly at him. “Why? Do you have something to hide?”

Link exhaled and rested his head back, closing his eyes. “Only my undying love for your long hair.”

Zelda pushed herself up and Link quickly missed the shelter that she provided with her warmth. Lazily opening one eye, he saw her pouting cutely at him. “I thought you liked my short hair,” she said in a huff.

Link reached up and played with the front strands that fell in front of her face. She had it cut in Gerudo Town last month and it threw him off for a few days. “I do,” he admitted sincerely, “But I’ve introduced about ten strands of your hair to my nostrils in the last five minutes.”

She wrinkled her nose and recoiled slightly, self consciously brushing the top of her head down. “That’s gross, Link.”

He laughed and pulled her down just as she leaned back on her haunches, ignoring her indignant yelp. “No, your whole head has to be acquainted with my nose!”

Zelda squealed as she tried to get away from him, unsuccessfully trying to tickle her way out of Link’s reach. He was never ticklish and he never would be, despite how hard Zelda wished he was for exact situations like these. Link held her in a weak headlock, laughing all the more when she shrieked at every exaggerated sniff he pressed against her ears and neck. 

“Link, no!” Zelda smacked his diaphragm and Link felt the wind being thrown out of him. He jolted forward with a wheezy groan, but he was still snickering even when Zelda pushed herself up and rolled away from him with a playful glint in her eyes. “I hate you!”

“No, you don’t.” 

Link lunged for her, but she narrowly scuttled away with only his fingertips grazing her boot. She grinned at him and pushed herself up from the ground, breaking into a run down the hill. Link gave chase and let her run before he surfed down the grass on his shield. 

“Hey, that’s cheating!” 

But he ignored her in favor of bracing himself as he came closer to her, his body ready for the feat he was about to pull. She would be terrified, but he was betting on it.

Zelda let out a cry when he swept his arms under her knees, supporting her weight with another arm around her back. 

“Link!”

She held fast onto him, one hand gripping his tunic and the other onto his weapons strap. Just as he expected, she was scared, but Link was assured that he didn’t breach a boundary when he saw her smile still lingering in the corner of her lips. So Link let out a whoop into the air as they rode down the hill on his shield. Somewhere in the breeze behind them was Zelda’s laughter. 

He wouldn’t change a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, like, and subscribe! (to my youtube channel jkjk)
> 
> I've been so obsessed with Zelink; I have all these ideas that's filling up my phone and the only way I can possibly get through them is by somehow making them into oneshots because I can't trust myself to make a series that will probably intimidate me by all the elaborate planning.
> 
> I also have a suspicious feeling that the E3 that was cancelled had some Zelda content and I'm so salty and I need an outlet for my frustrations.
> 
> Happy quarantine!


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